Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Hanie does Caleb Hanie things in the 2010 NFC Championship Game Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

Chicago Bears in the NFC Championship: revisiting their last trip

Originally posted on Chicago Bears on SI
By Alan Goldsher | Last updated Jan 26, 2025 9:39 AM ET

In terms of the quarterback position, the Chicago Bears are traditionally, oh, let’s be polite and say unsettled.

Since 1985, a whopping 45 Bears have started behind center—an average of 1.125 QBs per season—among them Henry Burris, Moses Moreno, Peter Tom Willis, and Steve Stenstrom.

And let’s not forget Caleb Hanie.

A product of Colorado State and the franchise’s lone quarterback named Caleb aside from our Mr. Williams, Hanie played three seasons for the Bears, his highlight being a mop-up appearance in the 2010 NFC Championship Game at Soldier Field, a January 3, 2011 rumble with Chicago’s eternal rivals, the Green Bay Packers.

Caleb did his best that afternoon. It wasn’t enough.

Smokin’ Jay

Jay Cutler was the Bears 2010 starter, and—ironically, considering he racked up the most wins in any single season of his career (10)—he was a statistical mess, tossing 16 picks to his 23 touchdowns and taking a career-worst 52 sacks.

But considering Chicago’s solid defense, Cutler didn’t need to be great, as the D allowed just 17.9 points per game, numbers that were good enough to drag the Bears to that aforementioned Packers clash.

Knee Deep

In the third quarter of the Championship game, Cutler sprained his MCL—an injury that had some around the league unfairly questioning his toughness—after which second-string journeyman Todd Collins was sent in to overcome a 14-0 deficit.

Collins stunk up the joint—zero completions on four attempts—so in came Hanie.

To his credit, Hanie played relatively well, putting up 153 yards on 13-of-20 passing, ultimately leading the team to a game-tightening touchdown with four minutes left in the game.

Unfortunately, the touchdown came just one series after he threw a game-losing pick-six to 330-pound tackle B.J. Raji. But still.

No Return

The Bears haven’t seen the NFC Championship Game since 2010’s quarterback snafu—they were close in 2018, then came the Double Doink —but hopefully that’ll change as some point (very) soon with the arrival of innovative head coach Ben Johnson.